Thursday, March 25. 2010

Here is a fairly long post of progress on the new baggage doors being made for the ME 28. Lots of images, short on text, all from the camera of Ray Schmid, Gwyn Stupar was the photographer.

Berlin Sander

We continue to make good use of the massive Berlin Sander obtained from the Milwaukee Cold Springs Car Shops over 35 years ago. Finally exhumed from our IRM storage and restored to use a few years ago, it serves us well. The new doors are almost four feet wide and there was no problem running through the sander. L to r, Bob Kutella, Jim and Tom Windmeier, Norm Krentel, and Ray Schmid run one of the doors into the feed end of the machine.

The Gathering

Bob Kutella moves to the outfeed end while Jeff Brady, Norm Krentel, and Ray Schmid gather, ready to receive the door.

The Catchers

Norm K, Jeff B, and Ray S are the 'catchers'.

Smooth

The top surface seen has already had a few passes through the sander. You must remember that the real work is done on what is the bottom surface. We have the drums set to be very conservative, only removing 0.005 inch or less per pass. More passes are needed, but this allows one to carefully monitor and inspect the surface, to decide when 'enough' has been done. OR - we could be more aggressive and run enough passes that it would be thin enough to serve as a window sash.

One More Pass

Do we need one more pass? Norm K, Ray S, and Jeff B inspecting the latest side surfaced.

On the Bench

Both doors are complete through the Berlin Sander and back on the bench. Ray S is checking the panel smoothness (these are thinner and were not touched by the Berlin). The blue patches are thin layers of filler applied to correct some divots or defects which would essentially 'never' get sanded out. This is not an issue since these doors will be painted both sides.

Resting Easy

Ray S resting easy now that the big hurdle is over, having come through the sander with a fine job, no damage, and the machine worked well.

Filling

This particular filler is polyester glazing putty and the ME guys were not too familiar with its use. I demonstrated what little I know and was happy to back away after smoothing out the corner.

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Nigel Bennett about Steam Department Update June 2015Wed, 07-29-2015 07:42Subject to the general caveat that
a 100 year old steam engine can
always develop a last minute fault,
it is planned that #1630 will
operate 8/1 and [...]

CincyCubfan23 about Steam Department Update June 2015Wed, 07-29-2015 06:28Nigel - First, THANK YOU for all
the work you do (and everyone else
at IRM, for that matter)!
I believe I know the answer, but
I'll ask anyhow. [...]

Nathan about Steam Department Update June 2015Mon, 07-27-2015 16:26Nigel,
All matters of practicality do
indeed have to be taken into
consideration.
That said, as another suggestion,
you may want to talk to your [...]

Nigel Bennett about Steam Department Update June 2015Mon, 07-27-2015 07:38Nathan,
All ideas to be considered and
depends on how this year turns
out.
The big reason we run Thomas over
the route we do is the space [...]

Nathan about Steam Department Update June 2015Sun, 07-26-2015 19:24Hi Nigel,
Just noticed the comments and plans
for Thomas on this thread and am
intrigued.
It seems like a great idea to have
#1630 push the Percy [...]

Nigel Bennett about Steam Department Update June 2015Sun, 07-26-2015 09:41Andrew,
No. The Thomas train will follow
its normal route.
There will be two event trains, the
Thomas train and the Percy train
(standard DOWT [...]

Nigel Bennett about Steam Department Update June 2015Sat, 07-25-2015 08:45Peter,
The Thomas days will be
significantly different this year.
There will be a Percy train as well
as a Thomas train and, subject to
the [...]

Peter D. about Steam Department Update June 2015Fri, 07-24-2015 23:51Greetings: Quick question regarding
steam operations...In addition to
Thomas, when would you expect a
steam locomotive to be on the
tacks. Thanks.